This disclosure relates to input methods.
Languages that use a logographic script in which one or two characters correspond roughly to one word or meaning have more characters than keys on a standard input device, such as a computer keyboard or a mobile device keypad. For example, the Chinese language contains tens of thousands of characters having pronunciations defined by base Pinyin elements and five tones. The mapping of these potentially many-to-one associations can be implemented by input methods that facilitate entry of characters and symbols not found on input devices. Accordingly, a Western style keyboard can be used to input Chinese characters. Likewise, input methods can be used for using a Western style keyboard or some other input device to input many other languages that include ideograms, such as the Japanese language, the Korean language, and other languages.
An input method editor user interface may be associated with an input method editor. Often a user may desire to utilize the input method editor to generate characters, e.g., Hanzi characters, and input the characters into another application, e.g., a search engine input field. For example, a user may open a browser and access a search engine interface, and then open an input method editor and enter a Chinese query in the input method editor environment, e.g., the input method editor user interface. The user may have to select a particular set of characters in the input method editor environment and then activate a search command in the search engine interface.
The repetition of the manual selections and/or switching operations can be detrimental to a user experience. Eliminating one or more of these manual selections and/or switching operations can thus improve the user experience.